Mersey Valley

Mallard, Stretford Ees

I had errands to do so it was mid-afternoon before I went for a walk. I was already near Stretford Marina so I walked down the canal into Stretford Ees and walked through to Sale Water Park.

Bridgewater Canal, Stretford 

The canal was fairly quiet, woodpigeons feeding in the gardens on the other side and just a moorhen on the water. The pigeons — fifty-four of them — were already gathering in the rafters under Edge Lane and black-headed gulls drifted overhead to roost. A pair of Canada geese were grazing on a patch of grass by the towpath. Approaching them the goose looked a lot smaller than the gander but as I got closer I realised it was a trick of perspective and as I passed them I could see she was only a couple of inches the smaller. For some reason I find I'm particularly susceptible to this sort of error with geese which is why, whenever I look at a crowd of geese and find one that's "not quite," I look twice then pan away to focus on something else and come back to see if the goose still looks different. A flock of a couple of dozen goldfinches twittered in the treetops by the houseboats and a couple of the males sang sporadically, warming up for the season.

Canada geese, Stretford

I dropped down onto Hawthorn Lane and walked past the cemetery where a mixed tit flock fussed its way through the hedgerow. There wasn't much on the field at Turn Moss that wasn't magpie or common gull so I cut through the fence onto Stretford Ees.

A mixed flock of wrens, blue tits and long-tailed tits fidgeted in the hawthorns by the pool, the great tits were calling in the thicket below the rise. In many ways this pool baffles me but it feeds Kickety Brook, gives the mallards somewhere to have a kip and in a few months will be fizzing with dragonflies.

River Mersey, Stretford 

Walking down the river the screeching of jays on the Sale side and parakeets on the Stretford side almost drowned out the calls of jackdaws heading to roost. The river was significantly lower than last time I saw it but still running fast.

A few dozen black-headed gulls loafed on the lake of Sale Water Park with a few lesser black-backs, common gulls, coots and gadwall. More gadwall hugged the banks. A herd of swans were feeding over by the water sports centre and half a dozen Canada geese cruised by in formation. Out in the middle of the lake a couple of cormorants were doing some very active fishing and the great crested grebe with the bad wing was drifting over towards to reedbeds on this side. 

Goosander, Sale Water Park

A pair of goosanders swam through the willows on the lake by Broad Ees Dole, a dozen coots being busy with somethings or other among the roots. The water was high on Broad Ees Dole, covering the islands. Half a dozen mallards rested on top of the shallows with a heron.

Broad Ees Dole 

Walking along Barrow Brook 

A song thrush was belting out its song from the hawthorn tree as I joined the path along Barrow Brook and a willow tit told me to move along, son. As I walked along a great spotted woodpecker made a cameo appearance before flying off towards the big trees by Jackson's Boat. By the sound of it the parakeets were already in there. I cut through the woodland as I headed for the tram stop, the soundscape being the calls of great tits and magpies and the whistling of teal settling in for the evening amongst the drowned willows.

As I stood at the bus stop at Barlow Moor Road my appreciation of a very fine sunset was distracted by a taxi driver choosing to cut up the bus I was waiting for as it approached the stop. The space the taxi driver was cutting into was non-existent and I spent a couple of minutes watching the exchange of pleasantries while the passengers at the front made rude gestures before wandering off for the bus into Urmston and a walk home. I suspect I'm jinxed.